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Kabul – As efforts gather pace to renew peace talks with the
Taliban, Afghan women still haunted by the insurgents' brutal rule say they are
being left out of the process, and fear that an accommodation with the
militants could lead to the loss of hard-won rights.

Ending a 15-year war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives
is seen by many as a more urgent priority than preserving and expanding women's
rights in a deeply conservative country. But rights advocates point to data
showing that peace efforts are far more likely to succeed when women are
involved.

Women have been absent from more than 20 rounds of informal Afghan
peace talks spanning more than a decade, according to the New York-based Human
Rights Watch. Women took part in two meetings with Taliban representatives last
year in Oslo and Doha, but those were not sanctioned by Kabul.

There were no women in attendance at two rounds of talks held
earlier this month by representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United
States and China, which are aimed at reviving negotiations with the Taliban
that broke down last summer after a single meeting when Kabul announced the
death of the Taliban's long-time leader.

The exclusion of women can be partly attributed to their limited
representation in Afghanistan, where men hold virtually all top positions in
government and the security forces.

But rights advocates also say President Ashraf Ghani, a
Western-educated technocrat who has vowed to protect women's constitutional
rights, has backtracked on promises to bring them into the process.

"The government has shown multiple times that it doesn't
really take women's interests seriously enough," said Human Rights Watch
researcher Ahmad Shuja. He said Afghanistan is obliged to comply with UN
Security Council Resolution 1325, passed in 2000, which calls for women's participation
in peace negotiations.

Preserving
rights and achievements

A UN study of that resolution published last year found that
including women in peace negotiations makes it more likely that the process
will succeed.

It said negotiations that included women were 20% more likely to
result in a deal that lasted at least two years, and that the longer the peace
lasted, the greater the likelihood that it would continue to endure. It found
that women broaden the debate, speed up the process and increase the
involvement of different sectors of society.

"We know that when women are placed at the centre of
security, justice, economic recovery and good governance, they will be more
direct recipients of a range of peace dividends including job creation and
public services. This means that the pay-offs of peace will be delivered more
rapidly to communities," the report said.

Ghani's deputy spokesperson, Zafar Hashemi, said the government
"will continue to consult with women, just like we engage with
representatives of all walks of life, as we move forward to end the
conflict."

"The president has been explicit in his intention to preserve
the rights and achievements of Afghan women; that is the guiding principle for
Afghan officials who are engaged in the peace process," Hashemi said.

That hasn't been enough to reassure Mahbouba Seraj. The director
of the Organization of Research for Peace and Solidarity, which advocates for
peace and rights, fears Ghani will keep women out of the process until the very
end, after all the big questions have already been decided.

"We have to walk this line very carefully because it is not
the time for us to lose even the smallest, smallest amount of what we have
achieved in all these years," said Seraj. She was one of three women among
11 civil society representatives who attended a parallel meeting to the four-nation
talks in Islamabad on January 11.

‘Beaten
in the streets’

The stakes for Afghan women could not be higher. Many vividly
remember life under the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan according to a strict
interpretation of Islamic law from 1996 until they were overthrown by the US-led
invasion after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Under the Taliban, women were banned from studying and working
outside the home, and were forced to wear all-covering burqas that restrict
sight and movement. Women were beaten in the streets for violating the strict
dress code and publicly executed in their burqas — anonymity intact — for
alleged sexual indiscretions.

The Taliban have more recently hinted at greater openness to
girls' education and women working outside the home. But in areas under their
control women have been forced indoors, girls' schools have been shuttered and
shelters for victims of domestic violence have been destroyed.

A woman's right to education, work, the vote and protection from
violence inside and outside the home has been enshrined in the Afghan
constitution. Challenges remain when it comes to access to health care and fair
treatment by law enforcement and the judiciary, but the progress has been
undeniable.

As women have gained new rights they've also grown more determined
to keep them.

"Afghan women do not want a peace that again restricts
women's access to school or work outside the home," said Suhaila Sahar,
director of the General Association of Public Servants, a national network of vocational
training centres for women.

"Women are half the population of the country and must not be
ignored. This lack of a role in the peace talks is extremely frustrating for
me," she said.

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